The Houses Competition (or THC) Round 2
Story Type: Drabble
House: Hufflepuff
Class: Muggle Studies
Prompt: [Event] Quidditch Tryouts
Word Count: 975 words
Beta Love: Thanks to my team for beta-ing
14-year-old Oliver Wood strode onto the Quidditch pitch, broom in-hand. He had succeeded Charlie Weasley in the position of Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. The chilly air combined with the magnitude of the responsibility caused him to shiver as he approached the crowd waiting to try out.
On the pitch, standing with their brooms in hand, were a motley assortment of applicants. Some of them shivered in their cloaks to keep warm while one girl flipped absentmindedly through a dog-eared copy of "Quidditch through the Ages." Woods' attention, however, was distracted by two red-headed second-years fencing each other with their school-owned Cleansweep broomsticks.
"Begone, foul usurper!" shouted one, as he feinted and ducked around the other's arm, forcing his twin to take a step back to avoid being stabbed in the stomach.
"You'll never stop me!" insisted the other, leaping to hide behind the reading girl.
Oliver jolted himself out of his surprise. "Eh-hem!" he said in what he hoped was a firm voice, "Can I have everybody's attention." Everybody except the two boys turned to face him. Oliver quickly noted the pair's inability to follow instructions.
"I said, everybody's attention," he said again, this time a little bit louder. The two boys seemed to share a smile and leapt to attention, giving an exaggerated salute to Wood as they did so.
"Right," Wood said, trying to sound like he'd done this before. "Everybody get on your brooms and fly once around the pitch. Quickly, now."
The group flew well overall. One girl, a fifth year trying out for the team for the first time, seemed shaky and frightened, but the remaining students took off and flew smoothly around the first half of the course.
About halfway around the course, one of the red-headed boys whispered an incantation, transfiguring the other's broomstick into a giant flying rubber chicken. The second boy almost fell off his steed but was able to hold on with one hand and swing himself back up while the other laughed so hard his broomstick dropped into a dive. By the time they recovered, the other applicants were already finishing their slid in after the rest of the group had already landed, still giggling.
"What are your names?" Wood demanded one they were both back on solid ground, his aggravation getting the best of him.
"Fred and George Weasley" replied one.
"George and Fred," corrected the other. "You shouldn't always get to go first.
"I am George," insisted the other.
"You're Charlie's brothers?" Wood concluded, cutting the pair off before they caused further chaos. Charlie had been a serious and skilled player, but these two seemed anything but serious. Without the red hair, it would be hard to guess the three were related.
'Although,' Wood admitted grudgingly to himself, 'it did take skill to keep flying when your broom was suddenly transfigured underneath you.'
"We are," said one.
"The two and only," piped in the other.
"Well, except for the other 3."
"And the sister."
"But they–"
"Stop." Wood insisted. He was losing control of these tryouts. "Time for specific positions. What is everybody trying out for?"
Three girls and two boys, spread between their 2nd and 4th years were trying out for Chaser. Wood instructed them to go shoot the quaffle at the hoops where he would join them shortly as Keeper. The two Weasleys were trying out as Beaters, along with a 2nd year girl and a burly boy from the sixth-year. The fifth-year girl who had seemed nervous on her broom wanted to be Seeker.
"Ok, you four, I'm going to release the bludgers and give you each a bat. Try to hit each other and not get hit yourselves, understand?" The Weasleys saluted again, while the other two nodded. Wood provided bats and bludgers before turning his attention to the Seeker applicant.
As Wood launched himself up into the air and began to move towards the goalposts, he heard the distinctive thump of a bludger hitting a person. It had hit the sixth-year Beater applicant. He fell off his broom. Wood quickly cast a spell to soften his landing and watched as he hit the ground, glared at one of the twins and walked off in a huff. Three Beater applicants were left. That meant that at least one of the Weasley twins would be on the team.
The Chasers were doing well. One second year girl, who had introduced herself as Angelina Johnson, kept making throws that were hard for even Wood to catch, and he committed to getting her one of the Chaser spots.
Wood heard a scream from down the pitch. One of the twin's broomsticks had now been turned into a passable imitation of a dragon, complete with fire breath. The twin on the dragon broom abandoned the bludger to chase down the other twin and set his broom on fire.
Wood wanted desperately to close his eyes and let out a long frustrated sigh but, as the captain, he figured he should keep everybody alive first. He flew over, but by the time he got there, George had rescued Fred from his burning broomstick and both boys were riding together on the dragon-broom. They took advantage of a passing bludger to knock it at the second-year girl, who dove out of the way but failed to pull out of the dive before hitting the ground.
Two Beaters left standing. The twins shared a grin.
"So, did we make the team?" one asked.
"Because you're out of other Beaters," said the other.
Wood really did sigh this time, "You made the team. Just behave yourselves, please."
"We will," chorused the twins in a tone that promised they would not.
Wood hoped their skills would net them the House Cup. He wasn't sure he could make it through a year of captaining these two otherwise.